How can a hero survive in a world gone mad? Both Casablanca, the classic 1940s film, and 1984, a piece of classic literature by George Orwell, revolve around a world in chaos, where it is impossible to trust anyone, and a war wages on within and without. In 1984, the protagonist, Winston, hides from a totalitarian, thought controlling government, that is out to stomp out all aggression against the Party. In Casablanca, the lead character, Rick, dealt with a world rocked by the impacts of World War II, where everyone was a spy, and even the spies were spied on. Both wish for hope and courage in their mutually exclusive worlds, yet only Rick finds hope in his. Winston dies with utter hopelessness, where no one will ever know of his life or deeds, yet he dies a hero. Rick is a cynic, tossed into a chaotic yet romantic world, and comes forth victorious. In Casablanca, we emerge with a feeling of hope, and joy, that the forces of good can win, and that eventually we will triumph over our enemies, wherever or whatever they may be. While slochky and romantic, Casablanca is a touching movie, and probably one of the best ever made. 1984 on the other hand, is a deep psychological thriller. In the world of utter thought-control, we find that even a strong hero such as Winston, is struck down by the party, for simply being alive, and that the virtuosity within humanity will eventually be overcome by our greed and lust. Their struggles are that of man against the oppressor. Both 1984 and Casablanca deal with a world gone mad, and the struggles of not-so-ordinary people. Oftentimes, parallels can be made between characters in the two. Renault can be compared with O'Brien, because both are 'double agents' i... ... middle of paper ... ...t of the rest of the world. Hero's can exist in a world gone mad, as we find in both 1984 and Casablanca. Lazlow is a hero of the rebellion, who stood out against the oppression of the German government, and escaped to Lisbon. Winston spat in the face of the Party, and stirred within himself, human emotions and committed the gravest crime: he was alive. Both acted in the face of defeat, and won their own victories. There are many similarities between the characters and events of 1984 and Casablanca. The line that sums it all up, was spoken by Rick. "That day in Paris, the Germans wore gray, and we wore blue." They dared to be different, and to be human, in a world gone utterly mad with its own evils. How to Cite this Page MLA Citation: "Casablanca and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)." 123HelpMe.com. 18 Apr 2014 .
The perfect society always exist in one form or another in everyone’s minds. The only problem with this is that no one ever thinks about the negatives of these societies. Comparing and contrasting this book and movie will show us how great and how terrible these places really are. The book 1984 and the movie Minority Report, have many striking differences as well as similarities. These differences and similarities can be seen throughout the setting, main characters, and themes in both 1984 and Minority Report.
Casablanca was directed in an era almost entirely dedicated to propaganda, as far as the film industry is concerned. The movie promoted America and the Allies similar to most films of the time, but it did so in a much different manner. The story told in Casablanca follows the main character, Rick, through his personal affairs and love tango with another lead character, Ilsa Lund. The film begins with Rick alone running his saloon based in Casablanca, in which he seems very indifferent to other people’s affairs, and comes off as very exclusive. He is delivered letters of transit by a man named Ugarte, which are nearly priceless to any refugee desiring to flee to the United States or another unoccupied country. Rick continues to act disinterested, reluctantly agreeing to hide the documents. He holds onto them even after Ugarte is killed for having stolen the letters, although there did not seem to be an...
The film Casablanca, indeed, involves problems that Rick faced and he finally solved that problem, ending in a satisfying way. Risk’s equilibrium is disrupted when he is going to leave Paris with his girl friend Ilsa because Ilsa doesn’t showed up at last. Risk becomes a boss of a cafe in Casablanca but he never imagines that he would encounter Ilsa again. Ilsa walks into Risk’s life again by accident when she is planing to get a letter of transit in Casablanca in order to escape to America with her husband. At the same time, Nazi Major Strasser arrives in Casablanca and tries to stop Ilsa’s husband from leaving Casablanca. Risk’s equlibrium is disrupted again. Risk still loves and hates Ilsa, and moreover, he gets the letter of transit. Even though Risk wanted to stay with Ilsa and let her husband go to America alone, Risk finally let Ilsa and her husband go and killed the Nazi Major Strasser. That is a satisfying ending.
The approach towards freedom is hard to achieve against a totalitarian government but possible to win with the people’s belief. 1984 by George Orwell and James McTeigue’s V for Vendetta portray the same idealism of the anti-heroes, Winston and V. An anti-hero is “a protagonist who lacks the attributes that make a heroic figure, as nobility of mind and spirit, a life or attitude marked by action or purpose” (“Antihero”). Winston is not courageous, peaceful, and self-centered along the path of freedom for Oceania, whereas the anti-hero, V is violent in his actions, impatient and careless in his pursuit to free London from the totalitarian government. As a matter of fact, V and Winston have the opposite behaviours; this is significant because it helps to compare the approach of the anti-heroes toward freedom. At the end of 1984 and V for Vendetta, the result of their approach is different from each other; Winston gives up on the liberation of Oceania, while V dies knowing that London is freed from Norsefire Party. In 1984 and V for Vendetta, the different behaviours of the anti-heroes, Winston and V, illustrate their approach to attaining freedom from the totalitarian government.
The main male character in 1984 is of course Winston Smith, and the leading man in Brave New World is a cross between Bernard Marx and John the so-called savage.
Entering a war is an effort that is best when it has popular support and enthusiasm. Casablanca is propaganda for the Allied forces to help rally support. There is clear evidence of this idea in the scene with the French national anthem, the character development, and the ending. France and the United States prevail as Germany falls and dies.
...speech, action, etc.) Orwell’s 1984 describes the superior position of a powerful leader in one country affect the living condition of its people. He even emphasizes on the weakness of a normal citizen, Winston, when he reveals that not even the truth will defend them from living in fear. The Benefactor and Big Brother are two dictators who use different types of propaganda to control its people mind consciousness. The authors uncover through the dramatic and fatal outcome of both D-503 and Winston lives in comparison with fear and threat. Even today, people still continue to live in propaganda; over mass media. Overall, this technical state reveals that human will never be able to escape from living in full of lies. Therefore, both authors especially Zamyatin urge the readers to expand their minds to improve the life of others and to keep believing in ourselves.
George Orwell creates a dark, depressing and pessimistic world where the government has full control over the masses in the novel 1984. The protagonist, Winston, is low-level Party member who has grown to resent the society that he lives in. Orwell portrays him as a individual that begins to lose his sanity due to the constrictions of society. There are only two possible outcomes, either he becomes more effectively assimilated or he brings about the change he desires. Winston starts a journey towards his own self-destruction. His first defiant act is the diary where he writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER.” But he goes further by having an affair with Julia, another party member, renting a room over Mr. Carrington’s antique shop where Winston conducts this affair with Julia, and by following O’Brien who claims to have connections with the Brotherhood, the anti-Party movement led my Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston and Julia are both eventually arrested by the Thought Police when Mr. Carrington turns out to be a undercover officer. They both eventually betray each other when O’Brien conducts torture upon them at the Ministry of Love. Orwell conveys the limitations of the individual when it comes to doing something monumental like overthrowing the established hierarchy which is seen through the futility of Winston Smith’s actions that end with his failure instead of the end of Big Brother. Winston’s goal of liberating himself turns out to be hopeless when the people he trusted end up betraying him and how he was arbitrarily manipulated. It can be perceived that Winston was in fact concerned more about his own sanity and physical well-being because he gives into Big Brother after he is tortured and becomes content to live in the society he hated so much. Winston witnesses the weakness within the prole community because of their inability to understand the Party’s workings but he himself embodies weakness by sabotaging himself by associating with all the wrong people and by simply falling into the arms of Big Brother. Orwell created a world where there is no use but to assimilate from Winston’s perspective making his struggle utterly hopeless.
Compare how Orwell and McTeigue connect with the experiences, ideas, values and beliefs of their readers when exploring the abuse of science and technology and its effect on life and society in their texts.
The way that a movie is pieced together by the director/producers has a huge impact on the viewer’s experience. Stylistic elements are used to help engage the viewer; however, without these techniques the viewer will most likely loose interest. In this essay I will be taking a look at a scene within the movie Casablanca directed by Michael Curtiz in 1942. Casablanca is a classic film that is reviewed to be one of the greatest movies of all time. This could be due to the notable quotes used throughout the movie, or its ability to follow a historic, comical, and romantic storyline throughout the course of the film. It caters to several different viewers, making this movie favorable to many. This scene in Casablanca uses specific editing techniques
Much can happen in a matter of minutes; a man can go from thinking he is happy to thinking his life is falling apart, or can change from hating someone to loving them. These experiences sound outlandish, but they happened to Guy Montag, the main character in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and Winston Smith, the main character in George Orwell’s 1984. These two dystopian novels are about the characters discovering major problems in their societies, and then trying to fix them. Montag lives in a society where television controls people’s lives and books have become illegal. On the other hand Smith lives in Oceania, a territory led by a totalitarian regime. This regime is headed by Big Brother and is referred to as the Party. By examining Fahrenheit 451 and 1984, it is seen, not only through the dehumanized nature of society, but also through the theme of lies and manipulation that both Orwell and Bradbury wish to warn of a horrifying future society.
It is difficult for them to hope to succeed in an area where so many of them have failed. The constant theme of betrayal in 1984 is being used by George Orwell to show how hopeless Winston’s struggle against the Totalitarian system is, giving the reader an idea of how bad this type of government is. The reader is introduced to this dark time and given hope in the form of the rebellious protagonist, Winston. However, the reader soon realises how hopelessly alone Winston is in his silent battle when they see that the government is against him, he has no support or allies, and that even his own mind can be turned against him. The message is clear and makes readers who live in a democracy happier with what they have.
Dystopian societies are often depicted as a totalitarian environment in which the general population suffers at the hands of the wealthy. Gregory Claeys writes in “The Origin of Dystopia” that the word dystopia “is often used interchangeably with 'anti-utopia ' or 'negative utopia ', by contrast to utopia or 'eutopia ' (good place), to describe a fictional portrayal of a society in which evil, or negative social and political developments, have the upper hand”. This elaborate description provides the backdrop for what kind of society “1984” takes place in. This also provides us with a good insight on the kind of environment that Winston’s mind has been exposed
After reading the book and watching the movie 1984 there were similarities and differences between the two. The novel is about manipulating people in believing in something that isn’t really there and about erasing history. Both the book and film focused on: authority, government, and war. The book and film follow the theme of conformity to control society.
Orwell uses different historic figures to reveal characters in 1984. First, Orwell's character Winston Smith a hero, symbolizing the British statesman, Winston Churchill. Smith was name of common man in England. Presenting him as a commoner portrays this character both as common soul, and yet uncommon in many ways. Through Winston, Orwell highlights the controls imposed on individual freedom in totalitarian society. Second, Emmanuel Goldstein, the main enemy of Oceania, is a portrayed as a Jew: